Non-woven needled pile fabric and method for its manufacture

ABSTRACT

A needled, non-woven pile fabric comprises a non-woven backing fabric and a non-woven face fabric. The face fabric has its face side printed with an ornamental pattern of pigment color. The backing fabric and the face fabric are needled together so that the fibers of the backing fabric penetrate through the face fabric and mingle with the fibers of the face fabric to form a pile on the face side of the face fabric. The ornamental pattern is thereby imparted with a soft three-dimensional appearance. A method is also disclosed for producing the non-woven pile fabric. According to the method, a web of a non-woven backing fabric is placed in face-to face relationship with a web of nonwoven face fabric having a decorative pattern of pigment color printed on its face side, with the printed face side of the face fabric facing away from the backing fabric. The two webs are then needled from the free or uncovered side of the backing fabric in a direction towards the face side of the face fabric so that the fibers of the backing fabric penetrate through the face fabric and mingle with the fibers of the printed face fabric to form a pile layer on the printed face side. The backing fabric and the face fabric may be of a single color or of blended colors.

Lochner NON-WOVEN NEEDLED PILE FABRIC AND METHOD FOR ITS MANUFACTUREAug. 28, 1973 [57] ABSTRACT the [ lnvemofi Herbert LOChIIeHKemPCmGeTmaHYA needled, non-woven pile fabric comprises a non- [73] Assigneea CikChemische lndustrie Kempen woven backing fabric and a non-woven facefabric. The GmbH face fabr1c has 1ts face s1de printed w1th anornamental pattern of pigment color. The backing fabric and the Filed;1971 face fabric are needled together so that the fibers of the [21]Appl.,No.: 117,626 backing fabric penetrate through the face fabric andmmgle with the fibers of the face fabr1c to form a pile on the face sideof the face fabric. The ornamental pat- 1 l Foreign Application PriorityData tern is thereby imparted with a soft three-dimensional Feb. 24,1970 Germany P 20 08 439.3 appearance.

A method is also disclosed for producing [52] U.S. Cl 161/62, 28/722 R,156/148, nomwoven pile fabric According to the method, a web 161/63161/641 161/801 161/97 161/154 of a non-woven backing fabric is placedin face-to face [5 l] Int. Cl D0411 11/00 relationship with a web ofnomwoven face fabric [58] Field of Search 161/62, 63, 64, 80, having adecorative pattern of pigment color primed on 161/154 67; 28/722 R;156/148 its face side, with the printed face side of the face fabricfacing away from the backing fabric. The two webs are [56] Referencescued then needled from the free or uncovered side of the UNITED STATESPATENT backing fabric in a direction towards the face side of 3,191,2576/1965 Smith 161/154 the face fabric 80 that the fibers 0f the backingfabric 2.132530 10/1938 Greiser. 28/722 penetrate through the facefabric and mingle with the 2,158,533 5/l939 Cavey 28/722 fibers of theprinted face fabric to form a pile layer on the printed face side. Thebacking fabric and the face Primary Examiner-George F. Lesmes fabric maybe of a single color or of blended colors. Assistant Examiner-M. E.McCamish Atmmey 'roren & McGeady 5 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures "W i ,1 W11' l I l h Tl Patented Aug. 28, 1973 hf aw L r7624 MVE/Yrm a HERBERTLOCHNER awe We 0 WWW 5 FIELD OF THE INVENTION The invention relates toneedled and decoratively patterned non-woven fabrics which are composedof at least two non-woven fabric webs, stabilized or reinforced byneedling.

BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND PRIOR ART Such needled, non-woven fabrics areprimarily used as floor coverings and are either single-colored or, inthe event that the fabric is made from a mixture of fibers of differentcolors, and this mixture is supplied to the web producing machine ofblended color. This blended type of non-woven fabric is more popular andhas found wide acceptance. It is also feasible to print such needled,non-woven fabrics over their entire surface and throughout. This,however, requires considerably expenditure in machinery and costs. Inpractice, it has been suggested to accomplish the printing by means ofpigment dyes or by generally soluble dyestuffs. Soluble dyes arepreferred to pigment dyes since the former do not substantially affectthe surface structure and appearance of the non-woven fabric in respectto its textile character. Thus, if the printing is effected with solubledyes, the surface characteristics of the non-woven fabric retain theirtextile character after the printing. If soluble dyes are used, theprinting is customarily carried out after the mechanical stabilizationby needling but prior to the subsequent stabilization by means ofbinders, to wit, prior to the impregnation of the fabric. In this stillrelatively unstable condition of the non-woven fabric web, the web issubjected to a washing treatment. This, however, entails considerabletechnical difficulties, particularly in respect to webs of relativelygreat width since the washing treatment causes substantial distortions,both in the longitudinal and the transverse direction. In addition, ofcourse, the washing step entails additional expenditure and requires asubsequent drying procedure, which again increases the costs.

Finally, it should be mentioned that the printing of non-woven fabricsresults in relatively sharply defined pattern contours, an observationwhich applies to the printing of textile goods in general. Theserelatively sharp contours cause an undesired flat image or appearance,particularly with relatively voluminous textile structures, as forexample, carpets. This fiat image or appearance is in contrast to wovenfabrics. The flat appearance is undesired because with a carpet thecharacter of the carpet structure is largely determined by thethree-dimentional structure of the coloration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION It is a primary object of the present inventionto provide for a needled, non-woven fabric structure which overcomes thedisadvantages of the prior art and which has a decoratively patternedface side of a soft and three-dimensional appearance.

Another object of the invention is to provide for a method of producingneedled non-woven pile fabrics having decorative patterns ofthree-dimensional ap-' pearance which is exceedingly simple to carry outand which results in pile fabrics of superior quality and appearance.

Generally it is an object of the invention to improve on the art ofnon-woven needled fabric structures as presently practiced.

It is also an object of the invention to provide a method for theproduction of needled, decoratively patterned non-woven fabrics,composed of at least two non-woven fabric webs, stabilized or reinforcedby needling in which, in spite of the printing for the decorativepattern, a three-dimensional color effect is obtained.

A still further object of the invention is to provide a method of theindicated kind which renders an intermediate washing treatment, asrequired in the prior art procedures, unnecessary.

. Finally, it is an object of the invention to provide a method of theindicated kind which is exceedingly economical.

Briefly, and in accordance with the invention, a needled, non-woven pilefabric comprises a first web of non-woven fabric which is of the natureof a backing fabric, and a second web of non-woven fabric which is inthe nature of a face fabric.'The face fabric has its face side printedwith an ornamental pattern, the printing being effected with pigmentcolor or colors. The two webs are placed in face-to-face relationshipwith the printed face side of the face fabric facing away from thebacking fabric. The backing fabric and the face fabric are needledtogether with the fibers of the backing fabric penetrating through theface fabric, the fibers of the backing fabric being mingled with thefibers of the printed face fabric and forming a pile on the face side ofthe face fabric. In this manner, the ornamental pattern is imparted witha soft, three-dimensional appearance. The backing fabric may be of asingle color or it may consist of fibers. of different colors so that ablended color results for the backing fabric. The same applies to theface fabric which, however, on its face side is printed with the pigmentcolors. A decorative pattern of one pigment color or of several pigmentcolors may be chosen.

In accordance with the inventive method, the backing fabric web and theface fabric web, which latter is printed on its face side with pigmentcolor or colors to form a decorative pattern, are placed in face-to-facerelationship so that the printed face side of the face fabric facesawayfrom the backing fabric. The two fabrics are then needled, the barbedneedles being pushed through the structure from'the free or uncoveredrear side of the backing fabric through the face fabric. The needlingcauses fibers of the backing fabric to penetrate the face fabric so thatthe penetrating backing fabric fibers mingle with the fibers of theprinted face fabric and form a pile layer on the printed face side ofthe face fabric. In this manner the originally flat printed decorativepattern on the face side of the face fabric is transformed into a softthree-dimensional pattern.

The mixing of the fibersof the printed non-woven face fabric with thefibers of the unprinted backing fabric, resulting in the formation of apile on the face side appearance of the printed patterns so that thedesired three-dimensional textile effect is achieved.

The consumption of dyes is considerably reduced in the inventiveprocedure, as compared to the dye consumption in prior art procedures.Assuming that about half of the face side of the fabric is printed, onlyabout one fourth of the dye stuff consumption of the prior artprocedures is required. Further, since in accordance with the invention,pigment dyes are to be used, the subsequent washing treatment, asreferred to above, is eliminated. In this manner the disadvantages ofthe washing treatment resulting in considerably longitudinal andtransverse distortions and drafts are entirely obviated. The number ofdyes or dye stuff to be used in the inventive procedure is unlimited.

The invention will now be described by an example, it being understood,however, that this example is given by way of illustration and not byway of limitation, and that many changes may be effected withoutaffecting in anyway the scope and spirit of the invention as recited inthe appended claims.

EXAMPLE A non'woven backing fabric was produced in conventional mannerfrom polypropylene fibers of a staple length of 90 mm and a detex valueof 17. The fiber weight was 300 g/m. The polypropylene fibers were spundyed with a red color. The face fabric was also of the non-woven kindand consisted of spun dyed polypropylene fibers of 90 mm length, a detexvalue of 17 and a m -W6lgl"|l of 200 g/m. The color of the spun dyedfibers was also red. The face fabric was now printed according to thescreen printing procedure so as to impart it with the desired decorativepattern. In the present example, the printing was effected with a blackpigment dye. After the printing, the face fabric was dried and thepattern was fixed. The printing was effected on one side of the facefabric only, to wit, its face side. The two fabric webs were then placedin face-to-face relationship with the printed face side of the facefabric being lowermost, and the backing fabric placed on top of theunprinted face of the face fabric. The two webs were then subjected toneedling, the needles passing through the web strucutre from the top sothat they first penetrated the backing fabric and then the face fabric.Due to the needling, fibers of the backing fabric pass or penetratethrough the face fabric and mingle, both at the printed areas and at theunprinted areas of the face fabric to form a color mixture while at thesame time forming a pile on top of the face side of the face fabric. Themixing of the printed fibers of the face fabric with the spun dyedfibers of the backing fabric under simultaneous formation of a pile fromthe fibers of the backing fabric causes a substantial elimination of theoriginally flat printing image. In fact, the desired three-dimensionaltextile effect is obtained.

The various features of novelty which characterize the invention arepointed out with particularity in the claims annexed to and forming apart of this specification. For a better understanding of the invention,its operating advantages and specific objects attained by its use,reference should be had to the accompanying drawings and descriptivematter in which there is illustrated and described a preferredembodiment of the invention.

IN THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is an exploded view of the backing fabric and theface fabric in section;

FIG. 2 shows the backing fabric and the face fabric in face-to-facerelationship with the needles of the needling machine being positionedabove the structure;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view of the finished needled fabric structure; and

FIG. 4 shows a plan view of the structure of FIG. 3, the view being onthe face side of the fabric.

Referring now to the drawings, reference numeral 10 generally indicatesthe backing fabric, while reference numeral 20 generally refers to theface fabric. Each fabric is of the non-woven kind and is composed of amultitude of fibers l and 2, respectively. The face fabric has a faceside 3 which is printed with a decorative pattern 4. The decorativepattern is printed with pigment dyes and penetrates to some depth of theface fabric 20. For producing the inventive fabric structure, the twofabrics 10 and 20, shown in exploded view in FIG. 1, are superimposedinto the formation shown in FIG. 2 in which the face side 3 of the facefabric 20 points in a downward position. Needles 6 having barbs 7 arenow passed through the structure formed by the two webs 10, 20, theneedles being mounted in a conventional needle machine not shown. Due tothe needling, fibers l of the backing fabric 10 penetrate through theface fabric 20 and mingle with the printed and unprinted fibers 2 of theface fabric 20 to form a pile layer 9 on top of the face side 3 of theface fabric 20. In this manner a soft three-dimensional appearance isobtained. In the embodiment here shown, the backing fabric 10 is of asingle color. The same applies to the face fabric 20. However, the twofabrics could as well be of blended colors.

The finished structure may primarily be used for floor coverings inwhich event, of course, the pile carrying face side will point upwardly.

What is claimed is:

l. A method of producing a needled, decoratively patterned non-wovenpile fabric, which comprises: placing in face-to-face relationship a webof a nonwoven backing fabric and a web of a non-woven face fabric havinga decorative pattern of pigment color printed on its face side, with theprinted side of the fabric facing away from said backing fabric, andneedling said webs from the uncovered side of the backing fabric towardssaid face side of the face fabric so that fibers of the backing fabricpenetrate through said face fabric, mingle with fibers of the printedface fabric, and said mingled fibers form a pile layer on the printedface side of the face fabric, whereby said printed ornamental pattern isimparted with a soft, three-dimensional appearance.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said web of non-woven backingfabric is of a single color or of blended colors.

3. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said fabric is of a singlecolor or of blended colors.

4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said pattern is printed witha single or with several pigment colors.

2. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said web of non-woven backingfabric is of a single color or of blended colors.
 3. A method as claimedin claim 1, wherein said fabric is of a single color or of blendedcolors.
 4. A method as claimed in claim 1, wherein said pattern isprinted with a single or with several pigment colors.
 5. The productmade by the process of claim 1.